FOOTNOTES

FOOTNOTES[1]My arrival in England was postponed to some months later through an attack of beriberi.[2]It was unknown to me till afterwards that Dr. Koch-Grünberg of Berlin had, in 1904, ascended the Uaupes to, I believe, 71° west longitude.[3]A rifle, where possessed, is never used against an animal but kept for use against the white man.[4]Turtle eggs are, curiously enough, not considered fœtal.[5]For my share I had the honour to receive, through the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the thanks of the French Government.[6]Steamers have been on the Amazon since 1853, and navigation is continuous throughout the year (cf.Brazilian Year-Book).[7]I never saw the Andes actually from these districts, but the suggestion is always there, they are seen in the mind’s eye; an ultimate, if invisible, limit to what would otherwise seem more than illimitable.[8]Wallace, p. 246.[9]Spruce, ii. 379-380.[10]Robuchon’s estimate of distances is 471 geographical miles from Iquitos to the mouth of the Issa; thence to the Cotuhe, which he places at 2° 53′ 12″ S. and 69° 41′ 10″ W., 150 geographical miles. From the Cotuhe to the Igara Parana, 252 miles, a total distance of 873 geographical miles from Iquitos to the Igara Parana.[11]Robuchon gives latitude 1° 43′ 9″ S., longitude 71° 53′ 36″ W.[12]Spruce, i. 7, ii. 100.[13]September to January is the hottest portion of the year, the heat being at its worst in December. 90° would be extreme heat, and 70° the lowest the mercury would probably reach; the average being from 75° to 85°. Robuchon is responsible for the statement that the temperature at the mouth of the Cotuhe in September was 43° Cent. in the shade, but that after a brisk shower it fell to 31°. The water of the Amazon has a temperature of 81°; the Japura is a warmer river and reaches 85°. Wallace gives the mean temperature of the Rio Negro water in September—that is, during the hot season—as 86°, and the corresponding temperature of the air as from 76° to 92.5°. The water, he considers, is probably never less than 80° at any time. The temperature of the Uaupes has been noted as invariably 76° at three to six feet below the surface (Geo. Journ., 1910, p. 683).[14]The Amazon at its mouth is 158 miles across from bank to bank.[15]This I take to be theYacitaramentioned by Spruce, i. 30.[16]Wallace noted a butterfly frequenting “the dung of some carnivorous animal” in Malacca, and remarks that many tropical butterflies suck liquid from muddy places, “and are generally so intent upon their meal that they can be easily approached and captured” (Wallace,The Malay Archipelago, pp. 29, 114).[17]Spruce, ii. 366.[18]Bates, ii. 262.[19]Spruce, i. 49.[20]One tree is reputed to be so poisonous that no Indian will touch it. See Maw, p. 294.[21]These tribal houses differ from the communal long-houses of the Fly Delta, British New Guinea, not only in shape, but in that there are no platforms and no divisions for each family; the whole interior is open. For description of Kiwai and Daudai long-houses seeExpedition to Torres Straits, iv. 112-117.[22]Maloka= Indian lodge or tribal house (lingoa-geral).[23]Manicaria saccifera(cf. Spruce, i. 56).[24]Eugene André noted that two kinds were commonly used on the Causa, themulato, a kind ofAroideae, and themurcielago, which belongs to theBignoniaceaefamily.[25]Several kinds of palm-leaves are used for this purpose, and whichever was most easily procurable in the district where the house was built would be used by the tribe. Hardenburg mentions the leaves of thePhytelephas macrocarpa, the vegetable ivory-tree, as in use among the Witoto, and theBactris ciliataor Chonta palm for the posts and rafters (p. 135). The leaves of the Bussu palm,Manicaria saccifera, will make a thatch that lasts for ten or twelve years, by some accounts (cf. Waterton, p. 479).[26]Wallace, p. 341.[27]This is architecturally interesting in view of Foucart’s theory of the evolution of the Egyptian grooved stone pillar from wooden originals, bundles of reeds.[28]Simson mentions such a “door,” p. 237.[29]Wallace, p. 341.[30]Among the Jivaro one partitioned half of the house is kept for the women (Orton, p. 171). There is no such distinction among the Issa-Japura tribes.[31]Cf. Wallace, p. 354.[32]Crevaux has described the process. He watched an Indian “qui fait du feu en roulant vivement un roseau dans une cavité creusée dans une tige de roncon” (Voyage dans l’Amérique du sud, p. 214). Wallace mentions this method among the Kuretu,op. cit.355.[33]If a jigger is removed at once with a needle it will not hurt, and scarcely makes a puncture.[34]Vampires in this country are few and far between, but Simson mentions them as a plague at Agnano (Simson, p. 131).[35]Bates, i. 246. For the taming of a full-grownCoitasee p. 247. Another pet mentioned by Bates, a “strange kind of wood-cricket,” is also unknown to me as a pet, and though I have often heard loud-voiced insects of the cricket class they have never been in captivity (cf. Bates, i. 250).[36]Cf. Martius,P.R.G.S.ii. 192.[37]See Appendix.[38]Deniker, p. 552.[39]Marriage by capture was a Carib custom (Westermarck, p. 383). It is unknown nowadays to the tribes south of the Japura.[40]Partial couvade is found also among tribes in the north of America, that is to say, certain things are tabu to the father after the child’s birth. Cf. Dorsey,Siouan Cults, p. 511; Venegas, i. 94; Tylor, pp. 294-7.[41]im Thurn, p. 173. Joyce locates the original Caribs on the upper Xingu, from whence, he considers, they spread over Guiana and the lesser Antilles (South American Archæology, p. 256). Rodway, on the authority of Spanish chronicled Arawak information, suggests they were the original inhabitants of the north-west coast, migrant from Mexico (Guiana, pp. 41, 45).[42]Ibid.pp. 171-2.[43]Crevaux,Fleuves de l’Amérique du Sud, Yapura, F. 5 et 7.[44]Crevaux,Vocabulaire français-roucouyenne.[45]Koch-Grünberg,Journal de la Société des Américainistes de Paris, tome iii. No. 2 (1906).[46]Koch-Grünberg,Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xxxviii, 189.[47]It must be remembered that I came to all these people from the Witoto country.[48]Crevaux,Voyages dans l’Amérique du Sud, p. 368.[49]Martius,Beiträge, ii. 340.[50]The Inca were calledOrejonesby the Spaniards on account of the large studs they wore in the lobes of their ears. See Joyce, p. 110; Ratzel, ii. 172.[51]Simson, p. 210.[52]Koch-Grünberg,Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xxxviii. 188 (1906).[53]Cd. 6266, pp. 9, 10, 12, 25, 26.[54]Rice, p. 690.[55]Wallace, p. 354.[56]See Appendix.[57]Hardenburg,Man, p. 134.[58]This combination is of so exceptional a character that it is hardly to be recognised as a definite trait of organisation, and it follows that though such exceptional cases may point to a possible past unity of clans as a tribe, these clans are now practically small tribes, being incapable of combining for common action. The expressions language-group, tribe, and tribesman are therefore more correct than tribe, clan, and clansman would be.[59]Cf. im Thurn, p. 185.[60]This is exactly the reverse of the matrilocal customs related by Sir Everard im Thurn.[61]Or their artists and publishers.[62]“The natives are ashamed, as they say, to be clothed” (Humboldt,Travels, iii. 230; cf. also Wallace, p. 357). Clothes, in fact, are often donned by savages at periods of license only. See Westermarck,History of Human Marriage, chap. ix.[63]There are several trees in these forests that supply the needed fibrous bark. im Thurn suggests that the bark used is that of theLecythis ollaria, but Spruce states that tauari is made from the bark of certain species ofTecomaof theBignoniaceaeorder, and tururi, a thinner bark-cloth, from various figs andArtocarps. Naturally natives use the tree that is handiest when required (cf. im Thurn, pp. 194, 291; Spruce, i. 27).[64]Dr. de Lacerda in his journal for July 22, 1798, describes just such a manufacture of bark-cloth carried on by the Muizas, who traded this with their neighbours the Maraves. SeeLand of Carembe, R.G.S., 1873, p. 71. Loin-cloths made from the bark of theArtocarpsare also found among the Semang of Kedah and other wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula. See Skeat and Blagden, i. 143-4, 157, 376, etc.[65]A similar geographical progression has been noted among the women of British New Guinea. See Williamson,The Mafulu, p. 28.[66]Sandals known asalparagatas, with soles of plaited aloe-fibre, are usually worn by travellers in the Amazons. These can be cleaned and washed in the same way. See also Simson, p. 83.[67]Wallace, p. 351.[68]Feather ruffs are worn by Napo Indians, but not by these tribes.[69]im Thurn, p. 305.[70]One feather head-dress in my possession is made with rough cotton yarn, obtained presumably by barter, for none of these tribes make cotton yarn themselves, and it is very rarely to be found among them. The feathers are bound into the hank with very fine fibre.[71]Oenocarpus distichus.[72]Wallace, p. 351.[73]According to Koch-Grünberg the Yahabana and other Kuretu-speaking tribes part the hair in the middle and plait it with bast. After bathing, the hair is dried, combed, and arranged with a bandage.[74]Red was the favourite colour for a djibbeh. White ones were not much liked.[75]This corresponds with the beadtangadescribed by Wallace, but the Uaupes’ apron is “only about six inches square,” and these girdles or garlands are two feet long or more (Wallace, p. 343).[76]Value, I believe, about ninepence exchange or less.[77]So uncommon is it that I was under the impression that it was entirely unknown until I examined the necklace in question very carefully after my return to England. Certainly I never saw any of these tribes preparing cotton or making use of it in any way except in its natural state to tip their blow-pipe arrows. String or yarn of any sort, except the fibre thread, I always found to be absolutely unobtainable anywhere throughout these districts.[78]Possibly one of theHisteridaementioned by Bates, i. 211.[79]PaceMaw, p. 226.[80]Belts of apparently similar minute plaiting are worn by the Mafula of British New Guinea. These natives also wear armlets and leglets of the same material, but not tightened to swell the muscles. The thread these are made of is manufactured from vegetable fibre in the identical manner employed by the Issa-Japura Indians (Williams,The Mafula of British New Guinea, pp. 32, 53, 54).[81]Compare illustration with pictures of ligatures in D. Rannie’sMy Adventures among South Sea Cannibals, pp. 80, 170, 179.[82]The Spaniards called the IncaOrejoneson account of the large studs worn by them in the lobes of their ears. See Joyce, p. 110.[83]Wallace states that all the Indians “have a row of circular punctures along the arm” (Wallace, p. 345). These tribes have nothing of the sort.[84]Wallace describes the mark as “three vertical blue lines on the chin” (Wallace, p. 345). This is not correct;videdrawing.[85]Crevaux, p. 264.[86]TheBixa Orellana(Spix and von Martius, p. 228).[87]Genifa americana(Spix and von Martius, p. 228).[88]Hardenburg, p. 138.[89]“Covering, if not used as a protection from the climate, owes its origin, at least in a great many cases, to the desire of men and women to make themselves mutually attractive” (Westermarck, p. 211). “Clothing was first adopted as a means of decoration rather than from motives of decency. The private parts were first adorned with the appendages that were afterwards used by a dawning sense of modesty to conceal them” (Johnston,The River Congo, p. 418).[90]The result of this is that a traveller is forced to have women as well as men in his escort, or he would find that half the services required would not be rendered him. For instance, no male Indian will prepare food, neither will he wash clothes, nor clean the cooking vessels. This refers to the untouched districts, and must not be confused with the forced “willingness” of the Rubber Belts.[91]A. R. Wallace, p. 349.[92]E. B. Tylor notes that the savage is often skilled in map-making as a form of picture-writing (op. cit.p. 90), and quotes Prescott for the existence of maps in Peru before Europeans reached South America (Prescott,Peru, i. 116). Ancient maps or books like “rolled up palm leaves” (Ratzel, ii. 169).[93]See Chap. XVIII.[94]Pudenda maioris statuae muliebris nigra, labia maiora rubra picta sunt; sed et in maiore et in minore statua vagina tam profunde perforata est ut transitum ab vulva ad uterum suggerere videatur. Scrotum statuae virilis nigrum, praeputium rubrum, pictum est; membrum autem ipsum, quamvis quiescens, erectum tamen est et sic ad abdomen parallelum.[95]See Chap. XVII.[96]Keane tells of the Mojos valley natives that so uncommon is stone in that district that if a man set out on a journey to the uplands where stone is procurable he would be asked to bring some back as a curiosity (Keane, p. 12). For some use of stone implements of the past still employed among present-day peoples, see Mitchell,Past in the Present, p. 12, etc.; Routledge,With a Neolithic People; Spencer and Gillen,Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 592-4, etc.; Skeat and Blagden,Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, i. 242, 296.[97]Spruce mentions a white pitch obtained fromIcicatrees, I never saw any white pitch. These Indians use only black.[98]Some tribes near the Napo also use circular shields of tapir hide, p. 116.[99]The use of the potter’s wheel was even unknown to the Incas (Joyce, p. 193).[100]Crevaux, p. 193.[101]The caraipé tree is, according to Spruce and Bentham, one of theLicaniagenus of theChrysobalaneaeorder (Spruce, i. 13).[102]Spruce, i. 14.[103]TheCerropia peltata, according to Spix and Martius, p. 259.[104]Tylor mentions the hammock as one of “the inventions which it seems possible to trace to their original districts,” and states that it has spread from South America and the West Indies “far and wide over the world, carrying with it its Haitian name,hamac” (op. cit.p. 175). It is interesting to note in this connection that a hammock is known as ahamakaamong the Yakuna; the Tariana call ithamakaoramaka; and the Yavitero Indians call itaimaiha(Koch-Grünberg,Aruak-Sprachen Nordwestbrasiliens und der angrenzenden Gebiete, p. 65). The Baré Indians call itmi; the Baniwabidzahaorbisali; the Siusipietaorpiete; the Katapolitani change thettodand havepieda; the Kurutana call itmakaitepa; the Uarekena saysoalita(Koch-Grünberg,op. cit.); while the Pioje call hammocksjangre(Simson, p. 268). The Witoto word iskinaiand the Borogwapa.[105]Hamilton Rice gives the distances between the meshes as the space of thumb to little finger stretch for the Witoto, palm-length for the Karahone, four fingers for the Cubbeo (p. 700). I knew the spacing differed, but never heard that it was a tribal distinction.[106]The palm employed is, according to Bates, anAstrocaryum(Bates, ii. 209). Wallace and im Thurn mention theMauritia flexuosa(A. R. Wallace, p. 342; im Thurn, pp. 283, 290), which, according to Spruce, “seems confined to the submaritime region” (Spruce, i. 15). He givesBromelia karatas, ii. 520. Spix and Martius give the Tucuma palm (Astrocaryum vulgare) and others of the same genus (Spix and Martius, p. 248).[107]“A species ofDesmoncus” (A. R. Wallace, p. 336).[108]Women make both cassava-squeezers and graters. This may be a coincidence, as I have seen men making the mats for the doorways, usually women’s work.[109]Guilielmia speciosa.[110]Spruce, ii. 447.[111]Spencer and Gillen,Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 668-9, andAcross Australia.[112]Any hard wood may be used, but cedar makes the best canoe. Hamilton Rice sayscachicama(Rice, p. 691). Spruce mentions “a heavy laurel, probablyParaturi,” used by the Tussari for making theircascos(Spruce, i. 413). Bates mentions theItauba amarello, “the yellow variety of the stone-wood” (Bates, ii. 117). But all trees will not do, for some will not open properly when they are fired (André, pp. 241-2).[113]Iriartea ventricosa.[114]This is said to be the only kind of canoe used by the Auhishiri (cf. Simson, p. 199).[115]Viz. the Maca, the Guaharibo, and the Guahibo (Spruce, i. 477).[116]Wallace, p. 358.[117]For example, the Zaparo (Simson, pp. 169, 295); the Uaupes Indians (Wallace, p. 349).[118]Among other tribes this is not always the case. Manioc and banana cultivation with the Rucuyens is carried on by the men (Ratzel, ii. 128).[119]There is a wild species on some of the rivers, but the Indians make no use of it (cf. Bates, i. 194).[120]Anauana sativa(Wallace, p. 336).[121]Spruce, i. 180-81.[122]Among the Issa-Japura tribes it is rather sustaining than stimulating,i.e.it is not fermented.[123]Theobroma, the food of the gods (Spruce, i. 79).[124]I would suggest thatmaniocis the true name for the plant,cassavafor the “bread” made therefrom.Mandioccais only American-Spanish for manioc.[125]Bates i. 194, n.[126]Spruce, i. 215.[127]Capsicum frutescens(Spix and Martius, p. 259).Artanthe eximiaand otherArtantheandPeperomia(Spruce, ii. 283-4).[128]For processes of growing and preparation, see Markham, pp. 148-9.[129]Erythroxylon cocaandE. cataractarum(Spruce, ii. 446-8).[130]Cf. E. B. Tylor, p. 170.[131]An illustration in Sir H. Johnston’sLiberia, ii. 406, shows a West African native climbing with only one ring and both arms and ankles free. Bates mentions an Indian climbing with only one ring used for the feet (Bates, ii. 196). The same method is to be found in Ceylon, among the Malays, etc. (cf. Skeat and Blagden, i. 51, 62, 85; Tennant,Ceylon, ii. 523; Partridge,Cross River Natives, p. 150, etc.).[132]This is no uncommon thing among peoples of lower culture, but that it does not of necessity follow as a corollary to life in the bush is proved by some of the West African tribes who are most indifferent sportsmen. This is the case among sundry of the peoples of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, where a British official has before now had to train his shikari, if he hoped for successful sport.[133]The blow-pipe, thegravitanain lingoa-geral, is known as thezarabatanaamong the Teffe tribes (Bates, ii. 236); thebodoqueraon the Napo. Koch-Grünberg gives the following names for it:todike, Imitritä Miranya;uataha, Yavitero;uilipona, Uarekena;uapana, Yukuna;Mauipi, Katapolitani;mauipiormoipi, Siusi;mauipiormauipi, Tariana (Aruak-Sprachen, p. 73).

[1]My arrival in England was postponed to some months later through an attack of beriberi.

[2]It was unknown to me till afterwards that Dr. Koch-Grünberg of Berlin had, in 1904, ascended the Uaupes to, I believe, 71° west longitude.

[3]A rifle, where possessed, is never used against an animal but kept for use against the white man.

[4]Turtle eggs are, curiously enough, not considered fœtal.

[5]For my share I had the honour to receive, through the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the thanks of the French Government.

[6]Steamers have been on the Amazon since 1853, and navigation is continuous throughout the year (cf.Brazilian Year-Book).

[7]I never saw the Andes actually from these districts, but the suggestion is always there, they are seen in the mind’s eye; an ultimate, if invisible, limit to what would otherwise seem more than illimitable.

[8]Wallace, p. 246.

[9]Spruce, ii. 379-380.

[10]Robuchon’s estimate of distances is 471 geographical miles from Iquitos to the mouth of the Issa; thence to the Cotuhe, which he places at 2° 53′ 12″ S. and 69° 41′ 10″ W., 150 geographical miles. From the Cotuhe to the Igara Parana, 252 miles, a total distance of 873 geographical miles from Iquitos to the Igara Parana.

[11]Robuchon gives latitude 1° 43′ 9″ S., longitude 71° 53′ 36″ W.

[12]Spruce, i. 7, ii. 100.

[13]September to January is the hottest portion of the year, the heat being at its worst in December. 90° would be extreme heat, and 70° the lowest the mercury would probably reach; the average being from 75° to 85°. Robuchon is responsible for the statement that the temperature at the mouth of the Cotuhe in September was 43° Cent. in the shade, but that after a brisk shower it fell to 31°. The water of the Amazon has a temperature of 81°; the Japura is a warmer river and reaches 85°. Wallace gives the mean temperature of the Rio Negro water in September—that is, during the hot season—as 86°, and the corresponding temperature of the air as from 76° to 92.5°. The water, he considers, is probably never less than 80° at any time. The temperature of the Uaupes has been noted as invariably 76° at three to six feet below the surface (Geo. Journ., 1910, p. 683).

[14]The Amazon at its mouth is 158 miles across from bank to bank.

[15]This I take to be theYacitaramentioned by Spruce, i. 30.

[16]Wallace noted a butterfly frequenting “the dung of some carnivorous animal” in Malacca, and remarks that many tropical butterflies suck liquid from muddy places, “and are generally so intent upon their meal that they can be easily approached and captured” (Wallace,The Malay Archipelago, pp. 29, 114).

[17]Spruce, ii. 366.

[18]Bates, ii. 262.

[19]Spruce, i. 49.

[20]One tree is reputed to be so poisonous that no Indian will touch it. See Maw, p. 294.

[21]These tribal houses differ from the communal long-houses of the Fly Delta, British New Guinea, not only in shape, but in that there are no platforms and no divisions for each family; the whole interior is open. For description of Kiwai and Daudai long-houses seeExpedition to Torres Straits, iv. 112-117.

[22]Maloka= Indian lodge or tribal house (lingoa-geral).

[23]Manicaria saccifera(cf. Spruce, i. 56).

[24]Eugene André noted that two kinds were commonly used on the Causa, themulato, a kind ofAroideae, and themurcielago, which belongs to theBignoniaceaefamily.

[25]Several kinds of palm-leaves are used for this purpose, and whichever was most easily procurable in the district where the house was built would be used by the tribe. Hardenburg mentions the leaves of thePhytelephas macrocarpa, the vegetable ivory-tree, as in use among the Witoto, and theBactris ciliataor Chonta palm for the posts and rafters (p. 135). The leaves of the Bussu palm,Manicaria saccifera, will make a thatch that lasts for ten or twelve years, by some accounts (cf. Waterton, p. 479).

[26]Wallace, p. 341.

[27]This is architecturally interesting in view of Foucart’s theory of the evolution of the Egyptian grooved stone pillar from wooden originals, bundles of reeds.

[28]Simson mentions such a “door,” p. 237.

[29]Wallace, p. 341.

[30]Among the Jivaro one partitioned half of the house is kept for the women (Orton, p. 171). There is no such distinction among the Issa-Japura tribes.

[31]Cf. Wallace, p. 354.

[32]Crevaux has described the process. He watched an Indian “qui fait du feu en roulant vivement un roseau dans une cavité creusée dans une tige de roncon” (Voyage dans l’Amérique du sud, p. 214). Wallace mentions this method among the Kuretu,op. cit.355.

[33]If a jigger is removed at once with a needle it will not hurt, and scarcely makes a puncture.

[34]Vampires in this country are few and far between, but Simson mentions them as a plague at Agnano (Simson, p. 131).

[35]Bates, i. 246. For the taming of a full-grownCoitasee p. 247. Another pet mentioned by Bates, a “strange kind of wood-cricket,” is also unknown to me as a pet, and though I have often heard loud-voiced insects of the cricket class they have never been in captivity (cf. Bates, i. 250).

[36]Cf. Martius,P.R.G.S.ii. 192.

[37]See Appendix.

[38]Deniker, p. 552.

[39]Marriage by capture was a Carib custom (Westermarck, p. 383). It is unknown nowadays to the tribes south of the Japura.

[40]Partial couvade is found also among tribes in the north of America, that is to say, certain things are tabu to the father after the child’s birth. Cf. Dorsey,Siouan Cults, p. 511; Venegas, i. 94; Tylor, pp. 294-7.

[41]im Thurn, p. 173. Joyce locates the original Caribs on the upper Xingu, from whence, he considers, they spread over Guiana and the lesser Antilles (South American Archæology, p. 256). Rodway, on the authority of Spanish chronicled Arawak information, suggests they were the original inhabitants of the north-west coast, migrant from Mexico (Guiana, pp. 41, 45).

[42]Ibid.pp. 171-2.

[43]Crevaux,Fleuves de l’Amérique du Sud, Yapura, F. 5 et 7.

[44]Crevaux,Vocabulaire français-roucouyenne.

[45]Koch-Grünberg,Journal de la Société des Américainistes de Paris, tome iii. No. 2 (1906).

[46]Koch-Grünberg,Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xxxviii, 189.

[47]It must be remembered that I came to all these people from the Witoto country.

[48]Crevaux,Voyages dans l’Amérique du Sud, p. 368.

[49]Martius,Beiträge, ii. 340.

[50]The Inca were calledOrejonesby the Spaniards on account of the large studs they wore in the lobes of their ears. See Joyce, p. 110; Ratzel, ii. 172.

[51]Simson, p. 210.

[52]Koch-Grünberg,Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xxxviii. 188 (1906).

[53]Cd. 6266, pp. 9, 10, 12, 25, 26.

[54]Rice, p. 690.

[55]Wallace, p. 354.

[56]See Appendix.

[57]Hardenburg,Man, p. 134.

[58]This combination is of so exceptional a character that it is hardly to be recognised as a definite trait of organisation, and it follows that though such exceptional cases may point to a possible past unity of clans as a tribe, these clans are now practically small tribes, being incapable of combining for common action. The expressions language-group, tribe, and tribesman are therefore more correct than tribe, clan, and clansman would be.

[59]Cf. im Thurn, p. 185.

[60]This is exactly the reverse of the matrilocal customs related by Sir Everard im Thurn.

[61]Or their artists and publishers.

[62]“The natives are ashamed, as they say, to be clothed” (Humboldt,Travels, iii. 230; cf. also Wallace, p. 357). Clothes, in fact, are often donned by savages at periods of license only. See Westermarck,History of Human Marriage, chap. ix.

[63]There are several trees in these forests that supply the needed fibrous bark. im Thurn suggests that the bark used is that of theLecythis ollaria, but Spruce states that tauari is made from the bark of certain species ofTecomaof theBignoniaceaeorder, and tururi, a thinner bark-cloth, from various figs andArtocarps. Naturally natives use the tree that is handiest when required (cf. im Thurn, pp. 194, 291; Spruce, i. 27).

[64]Dr. de Lacerda in his journal for July 22, 1798, describes just such a manufacture of bark-cloth carried on by the Muizas, who traded this with their neighbours the Maraves. SeeLand of Carembe, R.G.S., 1873, p. 71. Loin-cloths made from the bark of theArtocarpsare also found among the Semang of Kedah and other wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula. See Skeat and Blagden, i. 143-4, 157, 376, etc.

[65]A similar geographical progression has been noted among the women of British New Guinea. See Williamson,The Mafulu, p. 28.

[66]Sandals known asalparagatas, with soles of plaited aloe-fibre, are usually worn by travellers in the Amazons. These can be cleaned and washed in the same way. See also Simson, p. 83.

[67]Wallace, p. 351.

[68]Feather ruffs are worn by Napo Indians, but not by these tribes.

[69]im Thurn, p. 305.

[70]One feather head-dress in my possession is made with rough cotton yarn, obtained presumably by barter, for none of these tribes make cotton yarn themselves, and it is very rarely to be found among them. The feathers are bound into the hank with very fine fibre.

[71]Oenocarpus distichus.

[72]Wallace, p. 351.

[73]According to Koch-Grünberg the Yahabana and other Kuretu-speaking tribes part the hair in the middle and plait it with bast. After bathing, the hair is dried, combed, and arranged with a bandage.

[74]Red was the favourite colour for a djibbeh. White ones were not much liked.

[75]This corresponds with the beadtangadescribed by Wallace, but the Uaupes’ apron is “only about six inches square,” and these girdles or garlands are two feet long or more (Wallace, p. 343).

[76]Value, I believe, about ninepence exchange or less.

[77]So uncommon is it that I was under the impression that it was entirely unknown until I examined the necklace in question very carefully after my return to England. Certainly I never saw any of these tribes preparing cotton or making use of it in any way except in its natural state to tip their blow-pipe arrows. String or yarn of any sort, except the fibre thread, I always found to be absolutely unobtainable anywhere throughout these districts.

[78]Possibly one of theHisteridaementioned by Bates, i. 211.

[79]PaceMaw, p. 226.

[80]Belts of apparently similar minute plaiting are worn by the Mafula of British New Guinea. These natives also wear armlets and leglets of the same material, but not tightened to swell the muscles. The thread these are made of is manufactured from vegetable fibre in the identical manner employed by the Issa-Japura Indians (Williams,The Mafula of British New Guinea, pp. 32, 53, 54).

[81]Compare illustration with pictures of ligatures in D. Rannie’sMy Adventures among South Sea Cannibals, pp. 80, 170, 179.

[82]The Spaniards called the IncaOrejoneson account of the large studs worn by them in the lobes of their ears. See Joyce, p. 110.

[83]Wallace states that all the Indians “have a row of circular punctures along the arm” (Wallace, p. 345). These tribes have nothing of the sort.

[84]Wallace describes the mark as “three vertical blue lines on the chin” (Wallace, p. 345). This is not correct;videdrawing.

[85]Crevaux, p. 264.

[86]TheBixa Orellana(Spix and von Martius, p. 228).

[87]Genifa americana(Spix and von Martius, p. 228).

[88]Hardenburg, p. 138.

[89]“Covering, if not used as a protection from the climate, owes its origin, at least in a great many cases, to the desire of men and women to make themselves mutually attractive” (Westermarck, p. 211). “Clothing was first adopted as a means of decoration rather than from motives of decency. The private parts were first adorned with the appendages that were afterwards used by a dawning sense of modesty to conceal them” (Johnston,The River Congo, p. 418).

[90]The result of this is that a traveller is forced to have women as well as men in his escort, or he would find that half the services required would not be rendered him. For instance, no male Indian will prepare food, neither will he wash clothes, nor clean the cooking vessels. This refers to the untouched districts, and must not be confused with the forced “willingness” of the Rubber Belts.

[91]A. R. Wallace, p. 349.

[92]E. B. Tylor notes that the savage is often skilled in map-making as a form of picture-writing (op. cit.p. 90), and quotes Prescott for the existence of maps in Peru before Europeans reached South America (Prescott,Peru, i. 116). Ancient maps or books like “rolled up palm leaves” (Ratzel, ii. 169).

[93]See Chap. XVIII.

[94]Pudenda maioris statuae muliebris nigra, labia maiora rubra picta sunt; sed et in maiore et in minore statua vagina tam profunde perforata est ut transitum ab vulva ad uterum suggerere videatur. Scrotum statuae virilis nigrum, praeputium rubrum, pictum est; membrum autem ipsum, quamvis quiescens, erectum tamen est et sic ad abdomen parallelum.

[95]See Chap. XVII.

[96]Keane tells of the Mojos valley natives that so uncommon is stone in that district that if a man set out on a journey to the uplands where stone is procurable he would be asked to bring some back as a curiosity (Keane, p. 12). For some use of stone implements of the past still employed among present-day peoples, see Mitchell,Past in the Present, p. 12, etc.; Routledge,With a Neolithic People; Spencer and Gillen,Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 592-4, etc.; Skeat and Blagden,Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, i. 242, 296.

[97]Spruce mentions a white pitch obtained fromIcicatrees, I never saw any white pitch. These Indians use only black.

[98]Some tribes near the Napo also use circular shields of tapir hide, p. 116.

[99]The use of the potter’s wheel was even unknown to the Incas (Joyce, p. 193).

[100]Crevaux, p. 193.

[101]The caraipé tree is, according to Spruce and Bentham, one of theLicaniagenus of theChrysobalaneaeorder (Spruce, i. 13).

[102]Spruce, i. 14.

[103]TheCerropia peltata, according to Spix and Martius, p. 259.

[104]Tylor mentions the hammock as one of “the inventions which it seems possible to trace to their original districts,” and states that it has spread from South America and the West Indies “far and wide over the world, carrying with it its Haitian name,hamac” (op. cit.p. 175). It is interesting to note in this connection that a hammock is known as ahamakaamong the Yakuna; the Tariana call ithamakaoramaka; and the Yavitero Indians call itaimaiha(Koch-Grünberg,Aruak-Sprachen Nordwestbrasiliens und der angrenzenden Gebiete, p. 65). The Baré Indians call itmi; the Baniwabidzahaorbisali; the Siusipietaorpiete; the Katapolitani change thettodand havepieda; the Kurutana call itmakaitepa; the Uarekena saysoalita(Koch-Grünberg,op. cit.); while the Pioje call hammocksjangre(Simson, p. 268). The Witoto word iskinaiand the Borogwapa.

[105]Hamilton Rice gives the distances between the meshes as the space of thumb to little finger stretch for the Witoto, palm-length for the Karahone, four fingers for the Cubbeo (p. 700). I knew the spacing differed, but never heard that it was a tribal distinction.

[106]The palm employed is, according to Bates, anAstrocaryum(Bates, ii. 209). Wallace and im Thurn mention theMauritia flexuosa(A. R. Wallace, p. 342; im Thurn, pp. 283, 290), which, according to Spruce, “seems confined to the submaritime region” (Spruce, i. 15). He givesBromelia karatas, ii. 520. Spix and Martius give the Tucuma palm (Astrocaryum vulgare) and others of the same genus (Spix and Martius, p. 248).

[107]“A species ofDesmoncus” (A. R. Wallace, p. 336).

[108]Women make both cassava-squeezers and graters. This may be a coincidence, as I have seen men making the mats for the doorways, usually women’s work.

[109]Guilielmia speciosa.

[110]Spruce, ii. 447.

[111]Spencer and Gillen,Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 668-9, andAcross Australia.

[112]Any hard wood may be used, but cedar makes the best canoe. Hamilton Rice sayscachicama(Rice, p. 691). Spruce mentions “a heavy laurel, probablyParaturi,” used by the Tussari for making theircascos(Spruce, i. 413). Bates mentions theItauba amarello, “the yellow variety of the stone-wood” (Bates, ii. 117). But all trees will not do, for some will not open properly when they are fired (André, pp. 241-2).

[113]Iriartea ventricosa.

[114]This is said to be the only kind of canoe used by the Auhishiri (cf. Simson, p. 199).

[115]Viz. the Maca, the Guaharibo, and the Guahibo (Spruce, i. 477).

[116]Wallace, p. 358.

[117]For example, the Zaparo (Simson, pp. 169, 295); the Uaupes Indians (Wallace, p. 349).

[118]Among other tribes this is not always the case. Manioc and banana cultivation with the Rucuyens is carried on by the men (Ratzel, ii. 128).

[119]There is a wild species on some of the rivers, but the Indians make no use of it (cf. Bates, i. 194).

[120]Anauana sativa(Wallace, p. 336).

[121]Spruce, i. 180-81.

[122]Among the Issa-Japura tribes it is rather sustaining than stimulating,i.e.it is not fermented.

[123]Theobroma, the food of the gods (Spruce, i. 79).

[124]I would suggest thatmaniocis the true name for the plant,cassavafor the “bread” made therefrom.Mandioccais only American-Spanish for manioc.

[125]Bates i. 194, n.

[126]Spruce, i. 215.

[127]Capsicum frutescens(Spix and Martius, p. 259).Artanthe eximiaand otherArtantheandPeperomia(Spruce, ii. 283-4).

[128]For processes of growing and preparation, see Markham, pp. 148-9.

[129]Erythroxylon cocaandE. cataractarum(Spruce, ii. 446-8).

[130]Cf. E. B. Tylor, p. 170.

[131]An illustration in Sir H. Johnston’sLiberia, ii. 406, shows a West African native climbing with only one ring and both arms and ankles free. Bates mentions an Indian climbing with only one ring used for the feet (Bates, ii. 196). The same method is to be found in Ceylon, among the Malays, etc. (cf. Skeat and Blagden, i. 51, 62, 85; Tennant,Ceylon, ii. 523; Partridge,Cross River Natives, p. 150, etc.).

[132]This is no uncommon thing among peoples of lower culture, but that it does not of necessity follow as a corollary to life in the bush is proved by some of the West African tribes who are most indifferent sportsmen. This is the case among sundry of the peoples of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, where a British official has before now had to train his shikari, if he hoped for successful sport.

[133]The blow-pipe, thegravitanain lingoa-geral, is known as thezarabatanaamong the Teffe tribes (Bates, ii. 236); thebodoqueraon the Napo. Koch-Grünberg gives the following names for it:todike, Imitritä Miranya;uataha, Yavitero;uilipona, Uarekena;uapana, Yukuna;Mauipi, Katapolitani;mauipiormoipi, Siusi;mauipiormauipi, Tariana (Aruak-Sprachen, p. 73).

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